HANDLING THE PRESIDENT’S PHONE 16

“Trump is dangerously incoherent”. That was how Hillary Clinton described her contender for the slot of leadership of the Republican’s party in the United State of America. Quite striking. Especially that this model remains a model for many young democracies.

Dangerously incoherent. Well, back home, I will add another to qualify equally what our opponents here are exhibiting. In addition, they are now logically incoherent, completing the circle.

Indeed, some have said that the only component consistent with the New Patriotic Party (NPP) is inconsistency. They don’t take a position and stand by it the next time.

Reality is that, only people who have principles in life can take principled positions on issues. It is easy to hide such attitudes in private life. This however, becomes even more difficult when such unprincipled persons are seeking political power. They are unable to distinguish between good principles and bad ones.

Quite appropriately, I have to author a text from a perspective in response to some issues.

You see, I kept following some of their arguments. They tell me to employ nurses. I understand what it means to complete school and have no place to work. The effects are two. First, one cannot have any meaningful livelihood. Second, and most important, the individuals end up losing the essence of the knowledge acquired while staying home.

Nurses require hospitals, clinics, CHPS compounds to work. Once the government is building these hospitals, we can be assured of employing our brothers and sisters who are home needing places to work.

I point this out because of a major project to be commissioned by next month. The 617-bed hospital coming up at the University of Ghana, Legon is one out of the many interventions that would address nurses unemployment situation to a large extent in the health sector.

Not only nurses, doctors trained from the various medical schools would have appropriate structures and modern equipment to work with. It does not end there, support staff in the areas of administration, human resource, finance, estate, etc, would gain employment in these various hospitals

When you look at the education sector, we have always been lashed for the length of time graduates are left unemployed. Although some work done sometime ago resulted in redeployment of teachers to where they are needed, we still have teachers idle without adequate places to teach.Ghanapooiticsonline.com

Now, we can all attest to the fact that in communities where students were being taught under trees, they would not have the requisite number of teachers. As structures come up, it becomes attractive for teachers to want to take postings into those communities.

As completely new senior high schools come up, we can be assured that graduate teachers would be employed to fill those vacancies. Currently, there is a recruitment process to get graduate teachers to fill those schools.

As a matter of fact, the priorities of government are targeted to enable us eliminate some basic challenges that must not be seen drawing us back as a middle income country.

It would be too much to stretch that the opposition must applaud us. Otherwise, what would be their relevance in seeking political power when they clap for every step of government?

However, we all agree we have a basic problem. A fundamental problem that irrespective of the government in power, we must have to deal with. The issues of poverty, illiteracy, hunger, access to potable water, access to electricity and quality roads are things we all would agree with. Then the almighty economy which I don’t seem to understand what it really mean to some people.

An economy can best be defined in my little perspective as a system that has all basic necessities of life equally accessible to all while offering opportunities and assurances for those who aspire to achieve more.

In the view of a socialist, that distribution must be done to take away the clearly demarcated class system in society which is the distinction between the capitalists and socialists.

As a developing middle income nation, what economists call opportunity cost which is the cost forgone by undertaking another, is even much inherent. The swift demands for increases in infrastructure, the need to create an enabling environment, the need to create employment and what have you, makes choices much more difficult.

Importantly difficult because the sources of funds required to address all of these challenges are expensive and being competed among other nations. In the light of this, government’s efforts are expended towards maintaining a balance within these vast needs.

But, as I said, the priorities of government are set so clearly that in a matter of time, the efforts would materialize for all to see. Unlike an artist who is never seen doing anything good until after the project, governance and politics portends different things. The picture must be clear to the people even before the painting starts I admit.

While efforts are at these, it is interesting to note the constant attempts by individuals to create the image as though I have stated anywhere that all problems of Ghana are solved. Let me state it emphatically clear, there are Ghanaians who are still struggling to feed today, there a students schooling under trees, there are poor roads in this country, there are still places where there are no hospitals or where they have, some still exist that lack hospital equipment, there are people who still do not have access to potable water as well as people who have not seen electricity all their lives.

The problems of Ghana are not over under the four year term of the NDC and would not be over completely after my eight years.

What is not in doubt is that, our economy has expanded beyond what it was. We have added more hospital beds than the NPP had done in their entire eight years compared to our four years, we have added more senior high schools than the NPP, we are constructing quality roads than they have done, we have expanded water supply to communities than they have done in eight years, we have expanded electricity to communities under three years than their entire eight years.

Ghana is getting better than it was that we came to meet. I have no doubt, by the time I am done with the eight year term, Ghanaians would appreciate my focus as president of this country.